The United States President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son, Hunter, for tax and firearm-related convictions has sparked criticism from lawmakers and officials, including some within his own Democratic Party.
But the Biden administration on Monday defended the announcement, which the president made despite his previous pledge not to pardon his son, on the grounds that Hunter’s persecution was political in nature.
“They (Republicans) would continue to go after his son,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on a flight to Angola on Air Force One, adding that other presidents have also pardoned family members.
At the end of his first term in office, Trump pardoned a number of political allies and donors, including disgraced real estate magnate Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared.
Also, on his last day in office, President Bill Clinton granted a pardon to his half-brother, Roger, who spent a year in prison after he pleaded guilty in 1985 to selling cocaine to an undercover police officer in Arkansas. That pardon was done to clear his criminal record.